By all accounts, 2012 was one of the best years of my life. There were a lot of firsts, both personally and professionally.

Academically/Professionally-

Graduated with Highest Honors with Degrees in Biology and Environmental Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Received the Cornelius O. Cathey Award
Was accepted into the inaugural class of Venture for America Fellows.
Was offered and accepted a dream job with the Downtown Project
Presented my research at the 2012 Water and Health Conference

Personally-

Saw the first sunrise of the year over the Atlantic Ocean
Went to the African continent
Saw the sunrise at the eastern-most point in the US
Visited two Canadian provinces
Moved to the West Coast
Drove through 31 states
Saw the sunset over the Pacific Ocean
Was single for a calendar year for the first time since 2006
Completed my first half marathon (I won’t pretend to say I ran it)
Re-started blogging and have actually written posts for other sites
Became mildly addicted to Thought Catalog and The Good Men Project

Firsts-

Flew a plane
Did aerobatics
Went on a safari (actually in Africa)
Visited 10 states for the first time
Visited 2 Canadian provinces
Visited Acadia, Zion, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and Redwood National Parks
Drove through snow
Went camping in the snow
Won multiple trivia games
Cooked dinner for 40+ people
Gave a presentation to ~200 middle-schoolers
Gave out my own business cards

Lessons Learned-

1) In the real world, people’s livelihoods can depend on your actions, which is very different from college.
2) You have to express your own desires and preferences if you expect to get them
3) The greatest skill you can have coming to a new position is the ability to learn how to do new things on your own without (too much) supervision/guidance.
4) I don’t think I will ever tire of traveling/adventuring. Or at least I hope I won’t
5) One of my greatest strengths and weaknesses is my independence
6) I still have no idea what I’m going to do with my life, but I’m totally okay with that (well, mostly okay with that)
7) Being forced to be present in different places is really difficult
8) I am neither a goal oriented nor process oriented person, just a weird mishmash of both
9) I’m still my own harshest critic
10) I’m capable of doing a lot more than I give myself credit for
11) I’m still not sure if I’ll ever find a situation where I will be wholly uncomfortable